April 02, 2014

Professional Services Firms: Book as price of entry can be done in 20 hours, w good graphic artist

Books, not just one book, remain the price of entry for many professional services firms, including solos. Prospects want more of a feel for what you can do for them than your in-person pitch, website and what's in your media center.

A fast, affordable but effective way to achieve that is to home-produce an ebook. You can do that in about 20 hours. Team up with a good graphic artist to display content with infographics and you are good to go. At the Library of Congress website you can find out how to copyright it for a small fee. Should you slap on a price? Sure. That increases its perceived value. But you provide free downloads in exchange for data.

As developments happen in your niche, you put out there another ebook. Speed, as we learn even in the relatively slow-time 1990s, is a competitive advantage. Say your field is advising in financial services. Like Bloomberg Business Week, you see the flaws in the tone and arguments of Michael Lewis' muckraking about high frequency traders. You provide this insight to myriad market segments, pronto. Do some high-powered public relations around your ebook. This could be the game-changer for your firm.

When your ebook is being downloaded, you are collecting data. What you find from that data can provide a lot more for not only enhancing your presence in your field. It could generate conversions to sales.